AN ALLEGED co-conspirator of the son of Suriname’s
President, who has appeared on cocaine smuggling charges in the US, has been
arrested in Trinidad and will be sent to New York to face prosecution, Attorney
General Anand Ramlogan yesterday confirmed.

FATHER
AND SON: Suriname's President Desi Bouterse, seated, and son Dino, the latter
being named in an indictment in a federal court in the Southern District of New
York

Edmund Quincy Muntslag, who along with Dino Bouterse (son
of Suriname President Desi Bouterse) was named in an indictment in a federal
court in the Southern District of New York, is wanted in the US on drug
trafficking charges, Muntslag was arrested in Trinidad last week Thursday while
Bouterse was arrested in Panama, also last week Thursday. According to the
indictment, Muntslag travelled to Suriname on July 25 to arrange the transport
of ten kilos of cocaine to the US.

On July 27, the indictment alleges, Bouterse “caused a
suitcase containing ten kilos of cocaine to be transported from Suriname to the
Caribbean on board a commercial flight.” Muntslag was arrested in Trinidad and
charged with drug trafficking, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s
Office.

Ramlogan would only confirm the arrest and that the local
authorities were working with their US counterparts. Newsday was told Muntslag’s
arrest was part of an international ‘‘sting’’ operation led by the US government
in collaboration with his (Ramlogan) office and Acting Commissioner of Police
Stephen Williams.

According to sources, the US has been trailing Muntslag
for some time. A provisional warrant of arrest was issued by Chief Magistrate
Marcia Ayers-Caesar. Muntslag was arrested by officials of the Organised Crime,
Narcotics and Firearms Interdiction Bureau.

He was said to have entered Trinidad on August 29 in
transit to another country.

The investigation by the US has been the subject of
international press reports. Local sources said the arrest represented a
significant breakthrough in an international investigation that focused on a
major cartel responsible for drug trafficking between South America and the
United States.

Muntslag is currently detained at the Maximum Security
Prison in Arouca where security has been beefed up because of heightened
concerns for the drug cartel’s ability to infiltrate local prisons. Security
services are on high alert for any attempted prison break as police officers
have allegedly been approached by various emissaries to assist in facilitating
the escape.

Muntlsag appeared in the local courts on August 30. He was
unrepresented and requested he be provided with a translator. The Central
Authority Unit in the Ministry of the Attorney General has offered to assist.
Sources said Muntslag’s mother has flown in to visit him but prison officials
are keeping a close watch as he is treated as a maximum security high-risk
prisoner.

Bouterse’s father Desi, is a former military dictator
accused of human rights violations, including the killing of 15 political
opponents in December 1982. He ruled the tiny South American country from 1980
to 1987, and reclaimed power in 2010.

Muntlsag, 29, of Suriname, is charged with conspiring to
import cocaine into the United States.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison
while the indictment against Bouterse alleges the 40-year-old imported more than
five kilogrammes of cocaine into the United States between December 2011 and
August 2013.

Bouterse was arraigned on Friday in a Manhattan federal
court for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States and for carrying
a firearm or destructive device — an anti-tank rocket launcher and pistols —
during a drug-related crime.